From TV Screen to Harvest

This is the first of a series of three articles prepared from the combined experience of the "It Is Written" staff and field of coordinators.

How the Plan Works

SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST evangelism in its more than a century of conquest has come up against many walled cities—cities both literal and figurative. The cities of our nation have been evangelism's greatest dilemma. Against their walls of prejudice and indiffer­ence evangelism has thrown its strongest am­munition. But who will say that the job is more than begun?

Now that the city, and country too, has been swept into an almost continuous cycle of tele­vision watching, the home itself has become the formidable walled fortress from which men and women, unaware of truth though unconsciously seeking it, cannot easily be attracted to church or other meeting place. Evangelism, if it is to take the city, must, like Cyrus, go in under the walls, or in this case over them, and find the people where they are, in their own palace gar­den—beside the TV set.

You are considering the It Is Written plan of evangelism for your field. What is it? How can you best use it? What can you expect from it?

What Is It?

It Is Written is one more tool in the hands of last-day evangelists, an attempt to find one more approach to the challenge of our unfin­ished task.

It centers around a series of thirty-minute films prepared in color and planned especially for television release, though they will also fit into other evangelistic needs. They are full-message films that not only make favorable con­tacts for the truth and break down prejudice

but also share the impact of our distinctive teachings. If men and women in this television-minded generation cannot be easily brought into the public evangelistic meeting, here is a means of taking the evangelistic meeting to them.

But It Is Written is more than a series of films. It is a plan of evangelism that combines the tremendous potential of mass communica­tion with the fine-tooth comb reaping methods of public evangelism. More than that, it har­nesses the army of laymen who years ago were visioned by the servant of the Lord as playing a major part in the final work. "Hundreds and thousands were seen visiting families and open­ing before them the Word of God."—Welfare Ministry, p. 104.

It Is Written is a growing device for reap­ing. In short, it is an evangelistic campaign of

six months to two years' duration, held by way of television. This effort works closely with the layman and leads to careful decision follow-up in the form of group studies and decision meet­ings. The final link in the plan, a series of deci­sion films in color, to be used in local reaping, is now ready. The second article in this series will deal with the decision meeting, the third with the use of the new decision films.

The Release Hour

You have decided to give It Is Written a try. How do you go about it?

Of first importance, next to the spirit of ear­nest prayer that must permeate every successful evangelistic endeavor, is your release hour. Re­sults will necessarily depend largely upon the degree of saturation in your area. For such a saturation you will need the best possible release hour. The more people you reach, the bet­ter spent are your evangelistic dollars.

In Fresno, California, the program was on at 12:30 p.m. on Sunday, with an estimated audi­ence of nine thousand. When it was changed to 10:30 p.m. on Monday the audience jumped to an estimated 44,000.

Therefore it may not be wise to seek a public service release, or to be too quick to accept one. Public service time is usually Sunday morn­ing time, when only a small percentage of sets are turned on.

We should keep in mind, however, that it is becoming increasingly difficult to secure paid time for religion. More and more stations are adopting a firm policy against it. Our days for proclaiming the third angel's message by tele­vision are numbered. What we do, especially for our giant cities, we must do quickly.

In view of this situation, we may not always be able to secure the release time we would prefer. We may have to accept what we feel is second best. Or a public service release may be the only opening. In some cases it may be wise to adjust our plans by waiting a few months in a city that seems closed to us while we accept a good release hour that is available in another city.

Milton Carlson Agency

In the matter of probing the possibilities for television release, the value of the Milton Carl­son Company, at 3540 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, cannot be overestimated. With the company is Ruth Johnson, one of the finest time buyers in the country. These people have invaluable contacts with the stations. They know how to talk their language. Over and over again they have been able to achieve a change in policy or some way to bypass it on the part of stations that were closed to us. And often they have been able to buy their way into choice evening time.

When you first consider the use of It Is Writ­ten, the temptation will be to send a local man to contact the station. This, however, could prove to be extremely unwise. In one large city, for instance, the Carlson agency already had a commitment for us for a very fine release hour on a good station. But that commitment was withdrawn following a local contact, and we were forced to accept an early morning public service release on another outlet.

The services of the Carlson agency cost the conference nothing. The agency receives its fee direct from the station, and the conference is not charged extra. Their servicing of the sta­tions, which includes the providing of cue sheets, spot announcements, guiding the bicy­cling of films from one station to another, work­ing out with the station any problem that may arise, taking complete charge of the newspaper and TV Guide advertising, with your approval of the budget for that advertising—all is in­valuable, and involves a mountain of detail that neither the General Conference office nor the local conference is set up to care for.

In one instance, a conference beginning a second year's release with a reduced budget, felt it necessary to attempt to get along without the agency. But it developed that the "reduced rate" they were getting in this way was actually about twenty-five dollars a week more than Milt Carlson was able to negotiate for them, provid­ing his services along with it. Needless to say, that supposed economy venture was quickly abandoned.

Therefore, if you are considering the release of It Is Written, do not hesitate to contact Milt Carlson immediately. Do not wait until you are ready to go on the air. It sometimes takes two or three months to negotiate a good time. Let him be probing the possibilities while you are making up your mind.

Getting Started

So much for the release hour. You are now ready to begin work in earnest. Since It Is Writ­ten is not simply a set of films but a plan of evangelism, you will want to understand that plan. There is not space in this article to touch more than the barest high lights. You should obtain immediately, from the General Confer­ence It Is Written office, a copy of the brochure Paths to Decision, which outlines the plan in detail. Whether you are a conference officer, a worker, or a layman, this brochure of seventy-five pages tells you what you need to know about It Is Written. You will be wise to order enough copies of Paths to Decision for every layman who will be participating in the plan. A large number of capable laymen will be needed for regular contacts in the homes. For this group you will want to conduct a Paths to De­cision class.

But first comes thorough penetration of the area, with announcements of the telecast and later with enrollments for Take His Word, the attractively prepared series of pamphlets that take the reader step by step through the full message. In such activities—penetration, and always in prayer—you will be able to enlist ev-ery-member participation.

Lay the groundwork carefully. Study the plan. Promote it. Organize your forces. Order your supplies. Set up your office. The small brochure entitled Office Procedures, also avail­able from the General Conference office, will tell you how to set up an office, how to process enrollments, and will list sources of supply. The brochure Printed Materials will give you samples of advertising materials that have been successfully used by other fields.

Watch the Plan Work

But now watch the plan work. The telecasts have been on for several weeks. Names are coming in. Follow-up must begin at once if the value of the films is not to be dissipated. Here the layman steps into his real place.

The new enrollee receives the first two num­bers of Take His Word by mail, along with two work sheets, the stubs of which he fills out and returns to the It Is Written office. Ten days later he receives two more. Ten days later he receives a third set of two. But watch! Ten days later a layman calls at his door to deliver Nos. 7 and 8 personally, along with the processed work sheet stubs that have been mailed in. Again Uncle Sam takes over. But Nos. 15 and 16, Nos. 23 and 24, and the last of the series, No. 27, are also delivered by the same layman.

The spotlight of the entire plan, you see, is on the layman. He answers questions and evaluates interest. He gains the enrollee's con­fidence, builds a lasting friendship, lends ap­propriate literature, calls in the pastor or some other experienced worker when the time is right, and takes the person to church.

And watch how naturally the layman be­comes the Bible instructor, even as early as his first visit. For as the enrollee asks for help in filling out his work sheets, or as the layman of­fers that assistance, he finds himself, naturally and casually and without fear, giving the Bi­ble study that he never thought he could give! For what Seventh-day Adventist would not be able to help someone fill out a work sheet?

When the telecasts have been released for six or eight months, and as enrollees near the completion of Take His Word, careful plans are laid to bring as many as possible to deci­sion. Personal contacts are more frequent. The minister steps in to help. Bible studies and lit­erature meet specific needs. Decision meetings help many to decide. These decision plans will be discussed in the next article.

Does It Work?

At this point, in spite of the reasonableness of the plan, you have a right to ask, seriously and earnestly, Does it work? For the test of any evangelistic program is its acceptance with the public, and its tangible results in interest created and reaped. It is encouraging to be told by those in the industry that It Is Written "is making religious telecasting history." Both commercial ratings and careful house-to-house surveys conducted by our own laymen indicate what station man­agers are calling an unusual acceptance.

To Seventh-day Adventists it is a challenging acceptance. The figures are almost frightening as we realize the responsibility they carry. How shall we follow up 15,000 Take His Word en­rollments coming in the first year in one union conference? Are we ready for the sort of evan­gelistic push needed when mail from one tele­vision outlet has come from 549 cities, towns, and communities? Are we as Seventh-day Ad­ventists ready for the gaze of our neighbors when in some areas three to five out of ten homes have viewed the program?

Can we fail to recognize the work of the Spirit of God when in conservative Eastern Canada a decision-meeting audience on Sun­day evening consisted of approximately fifty Adventists and six hundred non-Adventists? In Bermuda 95 per cent of the island had been viewing the program, and two thousand came out the last night of the reaping meetings. Evi­dently God is opening doors. Are we ready to enter them?

It Is Written is a plan of evangelism. It will work, and does work, wherever it is faithfully executed. But a set of films will not bring re­sults automatically. There must be a good re­lease hour. The laymen must cooperate in pen­etration of the territory and in contacts in the homes. The program must be followed up. In one city the release hour during much of the campaign was seven-thirty on Sunday morning. It is not surprising that results in that city were disappointing. In another city the films were put on but never followed up: Tangible results were lacking, as would be expected.

Nor should results be measured in enroll­ments alone. Take His Word is not a corre­spondence course. It depends upon personal contacts. It is natural, when enrollments come in in almost fantastic numbers, to be caught up in the enthusiasm and feel that all is well. But every one of these interests must be personally followed up. People cannot be baptized by mail. The plan must be worked if it is to suc­ceed. Certain factors must be met, and when they are, the Lord will give a satisfying harvest.

An Unfinished Story

The story of It Is Written is unfinished, but it is a thrilling one. It is the story of golfers leaving the golf course to view the program. It is the story of Take His Word being delivered by airplane out in the wide-open spaces of the West. It is the story of a viewer who enrolled seventeen of the neighbors in her block as she went from door to door to see if two of her Take His Word pamphlets might have been delivered to them by mistake. It is the story of men and women who come face to face with the claims of Christ and step out fearlessly on the side of truth—men and women who write in later, as one did, to say, "How wonderful to be looking at it all through the eyes of a Sev­enth-day Adventist!"

It Is Written is a form of total evangelism for your area that involves every minister and ev­ery layman. It is every-member evangelism for an entertainment-minded generation too ab­sorbed in television to be reached by anything but television. It is one more way of taking Christ to the millions who will not come to Him. It is one more path to decision.

Personal evangelism is such a natural thing. It is the normal reaction of a heart that has been warmed and won and wants to share.

The familiar story of the little lame dog tells it perfectly. A doctor had found a dog with a broken leg. He took him home, put the leg in splints, and soon the dog was well. But then he disappeared. "That's gratitude," thought the doctor, "to run away as soon as he doesn't need me." But the next day there was a scratch­ing at the front door. There he was—and an­other little dog was with him. And the other little dog was lame!

The impulse to share is the spirit of evan­gelism. The story of It Is Written begins with the television screen. But you, every worker and every layman, write the final chapters!